This is what they say about themselves on their Facebook group:

Project 10 is an event/ group that is making an effort to raise awareness of Blood Water Mission and finding ways to support it. So what we have done is come up with numerous ways you can get to know more about Project 10 or be a part of it. We will have merch. sales, benefit shows, tracks, etc throughout the year and all the donations and proceeds will go to Blood Water Mission. And to top this upcoming year all off, we will have an EP CD Release on August 9, 2010. So keep your ears/calenders open for we are gonna go for a ride!

Well, the CD is now out and is on sale for $10. You can either purchase it online or get one on Sunday after our services. Here’s even a music video of the cover song:

I was so encouraged by our college students and their desire to make a difference for the gospel of Jesus Christ. I pray that you would consider encouraging them by supporting them for the cause of Christ. Spread the news!

Beautiful. That’s the one word that keeps coming up in conversations with those who came from America. We see this country and see the mountains, the city, and the food (pão de queijo), and it’s beautiful! I had the privilege of coming here last September to see firsthand how beautiful Brazil is. And when I went back home, I showed pictures and told everyone. When I told the team of 12 people that came from our church how beautiful everything is, I’m sure they believed me. But when they saw it firsthand, like I did, they were just as amazed at everything as I was.  I heard comments from our team like, “If I wasn’t Korean or American, I would want to be Brazilian!” Or one team member asking a Brazilian if they wanted his return ticket to America, because he wanted to stay here. We have truly fallen in love with the beauty of Brazil. But as beautiful as Brazil is, there has been something more beautiful.

We have been blown away by your hospitality and generosity.  The selflessness of your church community has been amazing. From allowing us to stay in your homes, to making sure that we have delicious meals, to building relationships and friendships, it truly has been a blessing. The most beautiful thing about our experience here in Brazil has been YOU.

That has been our prayer as well.  We don’t have much to offer, but we came here hearing in Isaiah 52:7, “How BEAUTIFUL on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, ‘Your God reigns!’” Our prayer was for us to have beautiful feet!  We pray that as we spent time with the kids in the baseball clinics this week, that God was glorified and that we were able to partner up with you in bringing good news and proclaiming that “God reigns!”

We have been praying for you and your congregation.  We know that you are going through and will be going through some challenging times as a church as you move locations and transition to another place. But I trust in God’s word that He will make all things BEAUTIFUL in His time (Ecclesiastes 3:11). I pray that GOD would use this time to unite you together as a community and a time where your trust and confidence in God would grow. We will continue to commit to praying for you.

More than anything, all of this is a testimony of how BEAUTIFUL our God is. How incredible and mighty our Savior is. And how powerful the Spirit is in all of our lives. I pray that we would glorify our Heavenly Father, who doesn’t see us as who we WERE, but who we ARE in His eyes … beautiful.

Rev. Kye S. Chung
Lead Pastor of Binnerri English Ministry

Disturb us, Lord, when
We are too well pleased with ourselves,
When our dreams have come true
Because we have dreamed too little,
When we arrived safely
Because we sailed too close to the shore.

Disturb us, Lord, when
With the abundance of things we possess
We have lost our thirst
For the waters of life;
Having fallen in love with life,
We have ceased to dream of eternity
And in our efforts to build a new earth,
We have allowed our vision
Of the new Heaven to dim.

Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly,
To venture on wider seas
Where storms will show your mastery;
Where losing sight of land,
We shall find the stars.

We ask You to push back
The horizons of our hopes;
And to push into the future
In strength, courage, hope, and love.

– Sir Francis Drake (1540 – 1596)

As some of you may have heard, one of our congregation members (John Mark and Patty Lee) lost their baby on October 9, 2009 in the mother’s womb when she was only 21 weeks old. We are continually praying for them as they grieve the loss of their child. The amazing thing is that they are using this as an opportunity to make a difference because of the difference that “Joey” has made in their lives. They are asking people to donate to One Days Wages, an organization that our church partners up with to fight extreme global poverty. That’s just amazing. Read their invitation:

We want all of you to remember that Joey is still our child and that we are parents to a beautiful child. Many parents have legacies they want their child in heaven to bring, and for us, we want Joey’s legacy to be of loving and serving God and others. So, in memory of Josephine Ann Lee, we would like to ask for a donation to One Days Wages. One Days Wages is an organization that is helping to fight global extreme poverty. We are fortunate to have the necessities of health, food and shelter, but many are not. We also think about the mothers-to-be who are starving and knowing their future babies are not going to have the proper nutrition. We are also thinking about the young children who are suffering because they have nothing to eat to help them grow physically and mentally. We are asking that you donate one day of your salary;  your one day’s wages (~0.4% of one’s salary) can have a dramatic impact for those living in extreme poverty.

Before you donate, take some time to look over ODW’s website and see what they do. We have set a goal of $10,000 by October 9, 2010, Joey’s first birthday. I know many of you would have bought her gifts and presents and clothes, but we are now asking that you give that money or your day’s salary to this cause. We hope that you can help by sacrificing to help someone who is in real need like Joey would have. We hope you will also do this in memory of our daughter, Josephine Ann Lee.

Would you consider partnering up with them and ODW to make difference in the lives of mothers and babies all around the world? Sure, the economy is tough, and what little we can offer might not make a difference by itself … but collectively, we can do something amazing.

Here’s the special link that ODW has setup for Joey: http://www.onedayswages.com/joey

We love you, John Mark, Patty and Joey!

As we are all called to invest in the lives of others and to leave a legacy beyond ourselves, I wonder if when we get to heaven, we will be surrounded by the people that we’ve invested in and they will be singing the same words, “See what we’ve all become … Together we are one.”

Watch this video, reflect upon your life, be inspired to invest in the lives of those around you for the gospel of Jesus Christ, because you can make a difference … together we are one!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Together We Are One by Delta Goodrem

Here we are
Sharing our lives
We made it through
The good and bad times
And still we stand
With hope in our hearts
No matter what
We will play our part
And now we’ve come so far
One chance to touch a star
Go higher and higher

Find your guiding inspiration
In a place where dreams are made
With a lifetime’s preparation
theres no time to be afraid
Put our differences behind us
While we shine like the sun
See what we’ve all become
Together we are one

See what we’ve all become
Together we are one

Click here to view the embedded video.

God is God … God is good … To God be the glory.

I was at commencement at a Christian college this weekend, and it reminded me of the question millions of young people are asking this time of year.
We never grow out of that question: Who is operating out of a wisdom surplus?

But the vast majority of people start at the wrong place.
When I finished college, I desperately wanted to know what I should do next. Find a job? Go to grad school? Where? In what field?
I prayed until I was exhausted (and God was probably a little tired of it too). I was ready to do whatever. Just send me a postcard. Put it in sky writing. But I would have gotten more clarity with a Magic 8 ball.
For a good reason.
Which I did not understand for many years. And its this:
God’s main purpose for you is not what you do. Its who you become.

If I always told my kids what do to–wear these clothes, take this job, marry this person–they might do what I say. Their circumstances might even turn out OK.
But they would not grow into excellent persons.
To grow into an excellent person, you have to make choices, exercise judgment, take responsibility, and learn.
There is no short-cut for this.
So, if I want my children to become excellent people–my will for their life will often be: “You choose.”

God knew that I would grow if I had to make choices in ways I would never grow if I got a heavenly postcard.

“God’s will” is not a way of escaping the anxiety and responsibility of making decisions.

I had a friend–a really bright guy and great New Testament scholar–who was convinced it was God’s will for him to marry the girl he wanted to marry because a certain song played at a certain moment on a certain radio station.
It wasn’t God’s will. It was just a Barry Manilow marathon.
Sometimes a Barry Manilow marathon is just a Barry Manilow marathon.

How do I know God’s will for my life?
–Live this day in an open, repentant spirit.
–Understand that living in God’s will often means I must make decisions.
–Pray constantly, regularly asking for wisdom in small moments, without placing pressure on God to give any particular kind of response.
–”Let your life speak”: Parker Palmer wrote a wonderful book by this title from an old Quaker saying; if you look at the trajectory of your life with simplicity and openess certain patterns will emerge that will help you understand your shape and gifts and longings
–Have wise, godly people speak into your life with love and truth
–Be willing to make mistakes and learn from them quicker rather than slower
–Have a mind immersed with great thoughts from Scripture
–Practice making decisions and learning from them all day long
–Live in freedom and joy. Trust God that He can guide you into His will without your obsessing over it.

We want to especially thank Pastor Sam Park as well as the retreat team for making this a memorable retreat. May God continue to refuel us for His sake!

1. Relationship with God is proportional (α) to our relationship with others

We can’t separate our loved for God and our love for one another. Those are the two greatest commandments. In fact, commandment two (“love one another”) is the life application of commandment one (“love God”). How you measure the health and maturity of your relationship with God is by measuring the health and maturity of your relationship with others.

2. Rules minus (-) Relationship equals (=) Rebellion

People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care. Whether you are a boss, manager, parent, teacher, etc, understanding this formula will radically change the way you see things. If you invest in the relationship, people won’t see it as a bunch of rules, but they will respect the relationship and will follow.

3. Reconciliation is greater than (>) Resolution

When we have conflict and problems, we just want to resolve the situation rather than reconcile the relationship. But that’s taking a shortcut. Resolution focuses on the problem, reconciliation focuses on the person (that God loves and died for). That’s what God did for us, reconcile our relationship and also gave us the ministry of reconciliation (not resolution). Because God cares about people.

4. God loved us therefore (∴) we love others

We love because God first loved us. That’s the motivation of everything that we do for others. “I will no longer do unto you what you have done unto me, but I will do unto you as Christ has done unto me.” God forgave us therefore we forgive others. God blesses us therefore we are to be a blessing to others.

Click here to view the embedded video.

May God give us the grace we need to love God by loving those that He has placed in our lives.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Christ is risen from the dead, trampling over death by death, come awake, come awake, come and rise up from the grave!

Happy Easter, everyone!